debugging problems with uploads

For questions and problems with the CMS core. This board is NOT for any 3rd party modules, addons, PHP scripts or anything NOT distributed with the CMS made simple package itself.
Locked
Dramatic

debugging problems with uploads

Post by Dramatic »

Hi,
The client of a site on my server has been trying to upload files, without success. They are in the "managers" group, with pretty wide permissions (basically everything except breaking the site design).
Their test files are pdfs of 155kb, and they are using the file manager to try to upload to /uploads, but every time they are getting a [filename] failed to upload successfully message -after about 30 seconds. They are using IE8 on a direct ADSL connection - no network firewall.

I created a test user in the same group, and managed to upload a second similar file that they emailed me, with no problems. I noted that the file I uploaded is owned by user apache rather than the site owner, but it is still accessible from the web.

Note- I edited what should be the appropriate php.ini file to increase max execution time, but according to phoinfo it has not taken effect, even with an apache restart.
The php errorlog for the site does not exist.

What else could be different for the client and I?

Cms Version: 1.6.7

Installed Modules:
CMSMailer: 1.73.14
FileManager: 1.0.2
MenuManager: 1.6.2
ModuleManager: 1.3.2
News: 2.10.4
nuSOAP: 1.0.1
Printing: 1.0.4
Search: 1.6.1
ThemeManager: 1.1.1
FCKeditorX: 1.1.0-beta1
Calendar: 0.7.14
XStandard: 1.2
FormBuilder: 0.5.1


Config Information:
php_memory_limit:
process_whole_template: true
max_upload_size: 2000000
default_upload_permission: 664
assume_mod_rewrite: false
page_extension:
internal_pretty_urls: true
use_hierarchy: true


Php Information:
phpversion: 5.2.6
md5_function: On (True)
gd_version: 2
tempnam_function: On (True)
magic_quotes_runtime: Off (False)
memory_limit: 32M
max_execution_time: 30
safe_mode: Off (False)
session_save_path: No check because open basedir active
session_use_cookies: On (True)


Server Information:
Server Api: apache2handler
Server Db Type: MySQL (mysql)
Server Db Version: 5.0.45
calguy1000
Support Guru
Support Guru
Posts: 8169
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:44 pm

Re: debugging problems with uploads

Post by calguy1000 »

First... Thanks for the well explained question.... too few people actually take the time to phrase a question with enough information that we can help with... too often we have to ask for this information, and as a result many posts go ignored.

1) Your problem with the php.ini is because your host is using the apache2handler, so a local php.ini will probably not get read at all.
    instead if your host allows you can place the appropriate 'php_value' statements into a .htaccess file
    (see the one shipped with CMSMS in the docs directory).  This is also the reason that your uploaded files are owned by the user
    apache, and not by your ftp user account.

2) Uploads issues can be caused by a number of factors:
    a) Permissions
          - Either the destination directory has insufficient permissions, or the file already exists and it has insufficient permissions.
    b) Settings in the application may disallow uploading the file of that type (usually based on extensions)
          - There are settings in the file manager, and in the config.php you may want to check.
    c) PHP settings are insufficient to upload the file of that size in the time allotted
        There are a number of php settings that may need adjustment, to know which ones you really NEED access to error logs.

However since you said that YOU were able to upload a .PDF file of similar size without the 30 second timeout issue I would start thinking that your upload issue is not related to CMSMS at all, and may be related to your clients outgoing connection. I would suggest testing the upload from different hosts in different networks.  I'm assuming you were not on their network when you tested the upload.  Perhaps your client could try uploading the file from home, or you could test again from a separate location (coffee shop or something).  I'm starting to think it may have something to do with your clients windoze (blech) machine.
Follow me on twitter
Please post system information from "Extensions >> System Information" (there is a bbcode option) on all posts asking for assistance.
--------------------
If you can't bother explaining your problem well, you shouldn't expect much in the way of assistance.
Dramatic

Re: debugging problems with uploads

Post by Dramatic »

Thank you for the comprehensive answer. Unfortunately the client is 3 1/2 hours drive from me, so I won't be able to do side-by-side tests for a few weeks yet.
I've been caught out before by differences in user permissions within CMSMS, so that's why I duplicated her account to test (something the groups system makes really easy).

I have uploaded all her images and pdfs now, (after shrinking most of them), but in a final test she was unable to upload a 15kb image I sent back to her. Even a bad dialup line should be able to manage that, so it sort of rules out connection speed alone. I will ask her to test from someone else's internet connection.

*wonders why the system bothers with per-site php.ini files if it is configured not to use them!*
Locked

Return to “CMSMS Core”